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A child is hooked up to a computer through dime-sized sensors attached to her scalp. She looks at a basketball game or a hot-air balloon on a computer screen. With her brain waves, she makes the ball go into the basket or keeps the hot-air balloon aloft.

It’s not part of a "Star Trek" episode. The child, who has attention deficit disorder (ADD), is learning to control electrical patterns in her brain through a treatment called neurotherapy.

The sensors in her scalp tell the computer when she is producing the brain waves needed for focusing attention, something a child without ADD does automatically. When she produces the desired wave, she makes a basket or keeps the balloon in the air.

For nearly 30 years, neurotherapy has been used to change abnormal brain wave patterns linked to epilepsy, depression, addiction, ADD and other mental disorders. Within the last few years, practitioners have successfully used it to treat strokes, head injuries and some types of chronic pain. Although practitioners and clinics are clustered in the Northeast and in California, almost every state has at least one or two neurofeedback practitioners, according to the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America.

Neurotherapy, or neurofeedback, is a form of biofeedback, which teaches patients to control normally subconscious body functions like pulse, body temperature and blood pressure. In neurotherapy, patients learn how to slow down or speed up brain waves that have become stuck in abnormal patterns.

After a certain number of sessions, usually between 20 and 40 but sometimes more for severe injuries and problems, the patient can produce the desired brain wave automatically.

"One analogy is that it’s like having a frozen joint," said Ellen Saxby, RN, a neurotherapy practitioner in Carmel Valley, Calif. "Neurotherapy restores the range of motion."

Joel Lubar, PhD, psychologist and professor at the University of Tennessee and co-director of the Southeastern Biofeedback Neurobehavioral Institute in Knoxville, Tenn., was one of the first to use neurotherapy for ADD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the 1970s.

About 40 percent of his patients are off medication, he said. Another 10 percent to 20 percent have reduced their dosage. Almost all reported a decrease in symptoms, he said. They focus better and daydream less.

Responsible practitioners use neurotherapy in conjunction with other treatments, Lubar said. These may include medication, counseling, physical therapy and tutoring.

"It’s not a miracle cure," he cautioned. "The patient has to work hard at it and has to learn."

But for many, the results do seem miraculous.

Patricia Aneff, PhD, RN, FNP, who practices in Abilene, Texas, said one of her first patients was a 12-year-old boy who was so disruptive, he could not stay in a class for children with learning disabilities.

"When I got him, he was sitting on his desk making frog sounds," Aneff said.

She worked with him for nine months. The next year, he repeated the seventh grade in a regular public school class and graduated with a B average.

Most neurotherapy involves training patients to control their brain waves, but some practitioners change brain waves by introducing an electromagnetic pulse smaller than the amount of energy emanating from a wristwatch. This method is mostly used for people with brain injuries or strokes who may not have the strength to learn to control their brain waves, Saxby said.

Different conditions also require treatment in different parts of the brain.

Patients with ADD and related disorders usually need to speed up certain brain waves. Patients with addictions or post-traumatic stress disorder may work on producing slower waves associated with relaxation or meditation.

Neurotherapy practitioners say it’s difficult to describe the feeling when the desired brain waves are produced. They use words like "focused," "calm" and "relaxed, but alert." One patient told Saxby: "It feels like warm fuzzies."

Studies showing neurotherapy’s successes have convinced many physicians, especially in recent years. Lubar said about 70 percent of his referrals now come from physicians. "It’s moving more from the outer areas to the mainstream," he said. The treatment has become so popular that there is a shortage of practitioners, he said.

Michelle Long, MPH, of Seaside, Calif., said her physician suggested that she see Saxby for headaches that plagued her constantly after a brain injury from a bicycle accident in 1994.

Since she began neurotherapy more than six months ago, the headaches have disappeared. She has started understanding and participating in conversations at gatherings, something she hasn’t done since the accident. She eventually hopes to return to work as a health educator.

"It’s been a godsend for me," Long said of her neurotherapy. "It’s giving me a quality of life that many people in the medical profession didn’t think was something I could expect. I wish I had known about this sooner."